Device for detecting lottery tickets

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for detecting lottery tickets includes a feeding unit, a plurality of sensors, a processing unit and a rotation unit. The feeding unit is used for carrying a lottery ticket. The sensors are disposed on the feeding unit and arranged in a row and used for sensing result of feeding the lottery ticket to generate information corresponding to the result. The processing unit is coupled to the sensors and used for receiving the information from the sensors and generating a control command based on the information. The rotation unit is coupled to the processing unit and used for receiving the control command and then rotating to feed or to eject the lottery ticket based on to the control command.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a device for detecting lottery ticket, and more particularly, to a device with sensors on the entrance for feeding a lottery ticket sheet to detect if a lottery ticket is skewed.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In a conventional lottery ticket printing apparatus, a lottery ticket is placed upon a sheet feeding entrance of the apparatus, and a processor within the apparatus controls a motor to feed in the lottery ticket for printing. Most lottery tickets are thermal papers, and information is printed on the thermal papers via an interaction between thermal ingredients on the thermal papers and a thermal printer set within the conventional lottery ticket printing apparatus.

When a lottery ticket is placed upon the sheet feeding entrance, the conventional lottery ticket printing apparatus can only sense the presence of the lottery ticket, prompting a motor to rotate in order to feed in the lottery ticket; however, if the lottery ticket is placed upon the sheet feeding entrance at a skewed angle, when the apparatus rotates the motor to feed in the lottery ticket, it is highly possible that the lottery ticket will stick and/or fail to be printed. Even if the skewed lottery ticket can be fed into the lottery ticket printing apparatus for printing, the printed information on the skewed lottery ticket will not be in a correct position since the thermal ingredients on the skewed lottery ticket interact with the thermal printer at the skewed position; in addition, if an angle of skew of the lottery ticket is too large such that a position difference between the lottery ticket and the contact position of the thermal printer set is huge, the possibility of causing damage to the thermal printer set is high.

Therefore, the present invention is to provide a lottery ticket detection apparatus capable of sensing whether a lottery ticket is placed askew upon a sheet feeding entrance, thereby solving the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a lottery ticket detection device, which utilizes a plurality of sensors placed upon a sheet feeding entrance to sense whether a lottery ticket is placed askew, and further activates a motor to feed in a correctly placed lottery ticket or eject a skewed lottery ticket.

According to a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides a lottery ticket detection apparatus, which includes a feeding unit, a plurality of sensors, a processing unit and a rotation unit. The feeding unit is used for carrying a lottery ticket. The sensors are disposed on the feeding unit and arranged in a row for sensing result of feeding the lottery ticket to generate information corresponding to the result. The processing unit is coupled to the sensors, and used for receiving the information from the sensors and generating a control command based on the information. The rotation unit is coupled to the processing unit, and used for receiving the control command and then rotating to feed or to eject the lottery ticket based on the control command.

In the lottery ticket detection apparatus of the present invention the rotation unit includes a stepping motor and a gear set. In addition, a storage unit is included in the present invention; the storage unit is coupled to the processing unit and used for storing initial information received by the processing unit from the sensors. The processing unit compares the information of each sensor with the corresponding initial information; if all the information of the sensors and the corresponding initial information are identical, then the control command is set as a positive rotation control command for feeding the lottery ticket; otherwise, the control command is set as a negative rotation control command for rejecting the lottery ticket.

In the lottery ticket detection apparatus of the present invention, when the processing unit detects that a rotation number of the stepping motor rotates is more than a predetermined value, the processing unit stops comparing the information of the sensors with the corresponding initial information, and keeps on controlling the rotation unit to perform positive rotation to feed the lottery ticket.

The advantages and spirit of the present invention can be further illustrated via following embodiments and figures.

These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The FIGURE is a diagram of a lottery ticket detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Please refer to the FIGURE. The FIGURE is a diagram of a lottery ticket detection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This embodiment provides a lottery ticket detection apparatus 100, including a feeding unit 110, a plurality of sensors 111, a processing unit 120, a rotation unit 130 and a storage unit 140. The feeding unit 110 is used for carrying a lottery ticket (not shown in the FIGURE) ; the sensors 111 are disposed on the feeding unit 110 and arranged in a row, and used for sensing result of feeding the lottery ticket to generate information corresponding to the result; the processing unit 120 is coupled to the sensors 111, and used for receiving the information from the sensors 111 and generating a control command based on the information; the rotation unit 130 is coupled to the processing unit 120, and used for receiving the control command and then rotating to feed or to eject the lottery ticket based on the control command; and the storage unit 140 is coupled to the processing unit 120, and used for storing initial information received by the processing unit 120 from the sensors 111.

When a lottery ticket is placed upon the feeding unit 110 of the lottery ticket detection apparatus 100, the sensors 111 on the feeding unit 110 will sense result of feeding the lottery ticket and transmit the generated information corresponding to the result to the processing unit 120. In this embodiment, the feeding unit 110 has five sensors 111, wherein it is assumed that initial information of those sensors 111 are: positive, positive, positive, negative, and negative, respectively. After receiving the initial information from those sensors 111, the processing unit 120 will store the initial information in the storage unit 140 and generate a positive rotation control command. After receiving the positive rotation control command from the processing unit 120, the rotation unit 130 performs a positive rotation to feed in the lottery ticket.

After the rotation unit 130 receives the positive rotation control command from the processing unit 120 to feed the lottery ticket, the sensors 111 will again generate information and transmit the information to the processing unit 120. After the processing unit 120 receives the information from the sensors 111, the processing unit 120 will compare the information of each sensor with the corresponding initial information. Assuming that the information generated by the sensors 111 are: positive, positive, positive, negative and negative, respectively, the processing unit 120 will determine that the information and the initial information are the same, and the processing unit 120 thereby generates the positive rotation control command. After receiving the positive rotation control command, the rotation unit 130 performs the positive rotation to feed in the lottery ticket. On the other hand, if the information generated by the sensors 111 are: positive, positive, positive, positive and negative, respectively, the processing unit 120 will determines that the information and the initial information are different, and the processing unit 120 therefore generates a negative rotation control command. After receiving the negative rotation control command, the rotation unit 130 performs a negative rotation to eject the lottery ticket, since a comparison result from the processing unit 130 shows the information and the initial information are different, indicating that the placed lottery ticket is skewed, and therefore the processing unit 120 controls the rotation unit 130 to perform the negative rotation to eject the skewed lottery ticket.

In addition, in this embodiment, the rotation unit 130 can further include a stepping motor (not shown in the FIGURE), and a gear set (not shown in the FIGURE). As well as comparing the received information from the sensors 111 and the initial information, the processing unit 120 also determines whether a rotation number of the stepping motor is more than a predetermined value or not. If the rotation number of the stepping motor is more than the predetermined value, the processing unit 120 stops comparing information from the sensors 111 and keeps on controlling the rotation unit 130 to perform the positive rotation to feed in the lottery ticket.

Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. 

1. An apparatus for detecting lottery tickets, comprising a feeding unit, for carrying a lottery ticket; a plurality of sensors, disposed on the feeding unit and arranged in a row, for sensing result of feeding the lottery ticket to generate information corresponding to the result; a processing unit, coupled to the sensors, for receiving the information from the sensors and generating a control command based on the information; and a rotation unit, coupled to the processing unit, for receiving the control command and then rotating to feed or to eject the lottery ticket based on the control command.
 2. The lottery ticket detection apparatus of claim 1, wherein the rotating unit comprises a stepping motor and a gear set.
 3. The lottery ticket detection apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a storage unit, coupled to the processing unit, for storing initial information received by the processing unit from the sensors.
 4. The lottery ticket detection apparatus of claim 3, wherein the processing unit compares the information of each sensor with the corresponding initial information; if all the information of the sensors and the corresponding initial information are identical, then the control command is set as a positive rotation control command for feeding the lottery ticket; otherwise, the control command is set as a negative rotation control command for rejecting the lottery ticket.
 5. The lottery ticket detection apparatus of claim 4, wherein when the processing unit detects that a number of the stepping motor rotates is more than a predetermined value, the processing unit stops comparing the information of the sensors with the corresponding initial information, and keeps on controlling the rotation unit to perform positive rotation to feed the lottery ticket. 